It’s a funny old game, professional bike riding. The outsiders will never know the fun we have following the best riders in the world as they duke it out across the globe. Once you’re in the loop you can start to appreciate the full madness of the racing circus, and the wealth of inspiration to be found. The gut-wrenching tension and fizzing rivalries of those personalities at the top, is ours to savour. Those who say little let their actions speak for them. They perform at the highest levels of danger and skill, with the weight of the world’s expectations on their shoulders and reliably, they smash it. Thunderstorms, mist and dust-clouds… Come what may.

The traditional big 3… Gee, Greg and Steve. As experienced and well decorated as they are, playing second-best suites them all just terribly. What could anyone know about racing they don’t? After the season we just witnessed, they all want to know this themselves.

So where did it go wrong for them exactly? Well in a word you could say ‘America’. Greg took two wins and the overall silver, but came 12th and 18th in the trans-Atlantic rounds. Gee was always up there, save for a weak Windham and the disastrous Mont St Anne blow-out. Steve is then the exception, indulging in a season salvaging 2nd, State-side. But America’s involvement for the worlds finest didn’t end there…

If they saw it coming, they were powerless to stop it - the one man and his mindset, Aaron Gwin.

Quite possibly the new Schumacher/Carmichael of bike riding. Already people have begun to love to hate him. ‘Who won? Gwin!? Boring!’ Hold that thought though, he only started riding 3 years ago - the chances are he’s barely gotten started! 5 wins from 7, sabotaged only by reluctant victim Greg Minaar and then Hart and a sheet of crash-netting at Champery. Gwin just seems to be an almost infallible winning machine. He holds a look in his eye of such determination and confidence it is quite disturbing, I’m guessing especially for those who make a living from their cycling. For 2012, the pressure will be massive. What’s he running, how’s he training, what’s he thinking?! It’ll be make or break for the quiet American ‘Trekkie’. Word is that he’ll be throwing down some sideways action in runs- we’ve all seen him in the movies - that should ‘scrub’ off any boring stereotype…

While Gwin was off to a banger from the get-go in South Africa, others did not enjoy the same good fortune. Brendan had a shocker this year, with a nasty injury straight out of the blocks. The decision to ride through the summer brought scant reward and he made no secret of his frustrations. However - no knee ligaments and 4th at the champs? You better believe he’s still got it. Hopefully the surgery and the new team will put him back on track.

Above we see a most figurative demonstration of his season as a whole - derailing in his race-run, high up on the moors. Yet another Scottish muddle for Brendog... Much to the apparent dismay of a random mum, trackside.

So Brendan’s been down in the dumps, but let’s face it, there’s no one both as skilled and as unlucky in downhill as Matti. He really does take the biscuit for hitting the deck with a vengeance and properly fubar-ing himself. There was the twin arm breaks in Australia, then the spine fracturing in Scandinavia and this last time sounded especially unfair and brutal.

In a couple of midseason online video interviews, Lehikoinen told viewers he’s been struggling with confidence, which is hard to understand when you see his results over the years and indeed styles like this going off at Fort Bill. 8th place at the toughest track of the year in Italy shows he is still a completely serious racer, capable of anything and we wish him some hugely overdue luck for his recovery and return.

Solid top ten finishes are a dream for most, but as a top flight racer who’s had a taste of the glory and as a former young-gun himself, the summer will have been a big disappointment for Blenkinsop. So next year the gloves are off for sure. Or maybe he puts gloves on when he means business?

We all know Blenky could be number 1, especially after bagging a bronze tinted memento at the Worlds. The fact that conditions in Champery were filthier than a band-camp flute is testament to the Blinkmeister’s fully deranged and aggressive all-weather shredding skills. Look out for the bug-eyed bandit in 2012.

The ‘beard to be feared’ (Warner-ism alert), Vancouver Island kid Stevie Smith had an amazing season of unrelenting good form. 7th at Mont St Anne and La Bresse, 4th at Windham and Leogang, but a WC win is yet to come. Reliably mixing it with the best of them, he limped into 5th overall with an unsightly souvenir from Val di Sol - one majorly battered ankle.

He took a few hits this year in fact, crossing the line at Fort Bill with a mal-adjusted knee guard and a bloodied leg… still enough for 10th. Here we see Stevie popping off the new road gap, which was a nice addition, but could do with being a little bigger if it’s going to test the cream of the world’s crop.

Cedric - now one of the most senior rippers still in the game. Cooler than a penguins beak, madder than a box of frogs. Is there anyone as rad but as friendly, in extreme sports? This year saw an unexpected turn in his performances for the better - dabbling inside the top 20 and even the top 10, with a 7th at Leogang… Did you see how big he went out of the woods that race!? Cedric’s clearly still fit and fighting with a wiser head than ever. Here he goes massive, looming up behind some unsuspecting cruiser on the 40 foot tabletop.

Rumours were flying that he intended to flip the archway jump at the bottom of the Fort, rumours which actually came direct from the horse’s mouth the year previous. The reception a manoeuvre like that would receive during a race-run is just too tempting for a nut like Gracia. One day he’ll send it; this year it was just a time-saving thumbs up for the crowd.

Sam ‘Lord Luchan’ Hill. The current mystery man of downhill. Just what is the story here? Last season was a wash-out, salvaged by an astonishing last-ditch champs win out in Canada. This time, he disappoints with a dubious opening and goes AWOL after Round 3. Speculation flies off the chart with more conspiracy theories than a schizophrenia convention, for him to return ready to go with a full Aussie mohawk, only not to win the Worlds. Huh. Surely there’s more to come, surely he will be back to deliver a hearty ass-kicking to Gwin and a harsh lesson of respect to the young guns for 2012?

What we do know about Hill is that he redefined downhill with his initially unprecedented skill and risk taking. He is old school now too, in the scheme of things. Ironically, his style was always new school - totally on the edge, drifting outside the boundaries of control. Now where have we seen riding like that recently..?

These lads of course… The brave Hart, nearly took all the highland glory… sans mullet/kilt. And he nearly won a bunch more times, most notably at Val di Sole… Riding like a true madman, socks pulled up to 11, his bike dancing around beneath him at mach 10. Then, of course, he really produced the goods and did what Hill so nearly achieved back in Switzerland in 2007. Only so much better. Just the most insane riding the world has known, on the most infamous track on the planet, in the worst weather imaginable. It’s too exciting to think what could happen next year when it’s still that far away.

Anyway, he wasn’t the only one who went berserk this year. The kindergarten kid, Brosnan, threw himself down the mountains with reckless abandon, most memorably at Mont St Anne for 6th, then skimming his way to his first podium in Italy and ending 8th for the season. And I bet he can’t even drive.

Next there’s Brook McDonald. When Redbull announced his pre-season signing, it was a bit of a turn-up. There’s bigger and better right? Clearly the sticky, caffeinated talent scouts know a prodigy when they see one… Or maybe it’s just all the easy access chilled beverages that have begun to propel him up onto the podium so frequently. 6th for the season. And a bit of a mouth-ulcer, probably.

Finally there’s Bryceland. It’s been clear he’s got the skills ever since he made a reputable magazine front cover whilst still at primary school(ish). His performances have flaked and fluffed cyclically over the seasons, as we witnessed again comically on the finish jump at La Bresse and once more in the gloop of Champery. One thing’s for definite though- he’s found that new-school form of his young peers and he’ll be desperately seeking the medals of Mont St Anne, every race weekend of 2012.

And that’s not even the half of it! There’s a ton of guys chomping at the bit, threatening big business. Leov’s unbelievable consistency scarcely saw him falter from the top 10 and Needles scored a 3rd in the States after a summer-long snooze. Beaumont’s 6th places at La Bresse and Champery showed he is capable of cutting serious mustard, while Cole spent the season tussling with teammate Blenky in the top ranks until the appalling fracture to his wrist saw him fall from contention at the World’s.

There’s so much pace already on the scene, how could we possibly accommodate an influx of any more fresh race meat? Perhaps we needn’t worry- while we build up an appetite for a season of DH1 double trouble, Gwin and the rest of pack prepare to take each other, and any new boys, to the slaughter. And it will all go down ‘between the tape'. Or something a bit less copyright... Either way, after all the madness of last summer, the world of downhill will never be quite the same again. You might say- it’s all shook up.